Dad jailed for giving dying daughter medicinal cannabis.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/adam-koessler-50000-people-sign-5001305#rlabs=1

http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/18/dad-faces-jail-after-giving-cannabis-oil-to-dying-daughter-5026686/

I think this is absolutely disgusting. On top of the abhorrent decision to deny the two year old her only source of pain relief for her tiny cancer-ridden body, they are now locking up the father so he can't see his daughter! The parents are separated, her father is the only thing this little girl has. She could die at any moment and instead of being by her side he will be in prison for an innocent way to try and help his daughter.

If you want to sign the petition you can find it here: https://www.change.org/p/campbell-newman-intervene-on-behalf-of-adam-koessler-who-was-arrested-on-2nd-january-2015-for-administering-medicinal-cannabis-to-his-2-year-old-daughter-rumer-rose-maujean-who-has-been-diagnosed-with-stage-4-neuroblastoma

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Reply 1

zippity.doodah

we should end the war on drugs - the most retarded war we ever fought

Lol what

He knew what the consequences would be, he knew he would face jail. Why such bail conditions were set though, I don't know.

Reply 4

BefuddledPenguin

Cannabis is the greatest relief possible for the side-effects of chemotherapy. He did the right thing morally, no child should have to suffer that level of sickness without relief.

Reply 5

Coffinman

He has been charged with supplying dangerous drugs to a person under 16 and possession of dangerous drugs, and will appear in court on Tuesday.

I'm pretty sure heroin and morphine etc are dangerous drugs. I hope the judge rounds up all the doctors and pharmacists and imprisons them on that basis.

Reply 6

Wade-

Original post by Coffinman

I'm pretty sure heroin and morphine etc are dangerous drugs. I hope the judge rounds up all the doctors and pharmacists and imprisons them on that basis.

It's not a judges job to prosecute people so I doubt that'll happen.

He broke a law so he deserves to be punished. Regardless of whether you agree with the law or not you have to respect the rule of law

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Reply 7

n00

Original post by pjm600

He knew what the consequences would be, he knew he would face jail.

So good on him for standing up for what he believes and doing the right thing despite the unjust law?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

Coffinman

Original post by Wade-

It's not a judges job to prosecute people so I doubt that'll happen.

It amounts to that in the lower courts and as the judge has infringed on his human rights he can send himself off to prison too.

Reply 9

n00

Original post by Wade-

you have to respect the rule of law

What's to say he doesn't? He just felt it better to break the law and take the punishment than to deprive his daughter of medicine.

Reply 10

Spetznaaz

Original post by Wade-

Anyone in their right mind would do anything they could to help ease there child's suffering. People like you make me sick, how could you sit there watching your own daughter in agony and think "i could improve her quality of life 10x over but i won't because our draconian laws tell me i shouldn't".

Original post by Onde

Isn't there a difference between drugs and medicine?

Nope, same thing. Dosage between therapeutic use and recreational use are usually different though.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 11

Drunk Punx

Any parent would do the same thing.

Can you imagine having to say to your child "Sorry dear, I could give you pain relief and that is in no way immoral, but a bunch of people in suits who have no clue what they're talking about and only pay attention to archaic and biased "tests" concerning said pain relief say that I cannot."? Because that's essentially the reason why he was arrested.

Change the law. Fight the stigma. Do the right thing.

Reply 12

Simes

More than $14,000 have been raised to help Rumer's ongoing "Natural Cancer Protocol", which provides "organic, gluten free home cooked food, alkaline water, essential oils , energetic, chiropractic, [and] naturopathic healing" remedies for the toddler.

So, it wasn't just cannabis oil.

Another intepretation of this one-sided story is that this bloke has made up a 'cure for cancer' based on cannabis oil rather than the traditional snake oil, and the sick b**tard is using his daughter as the pretty face for his marketing.

We don't have all the facts in this case.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 13

n00

Original post by Simes

So, it wasn't just cannabis oil.

Are those other things illegal? :s-smilie:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 14

Simes

Another side of the story: http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/life-style/current-affairs/dad-charged-after-giving-sick-daughter-cannabis-oil-20150108-12k2kv.html

Significant:

The little girl, whose parents are estranged,

"Her cancer ridden little body was ALIVE AGAIN - Rumer had almost instant quality of life," Mr Koessler wrote on his Facebook page Fearless Father.

So it is him leading this campaign to save him.

Despite Mr Koessler's statements about the positive effect of the cannabis oil, Rumer's mother Sacha Maujean says much of what her ex-partner claims is "very false".

The single mum of Rumer and ten-year-old daughter Romany agrees with the police decision to charge Mr Koessler over the cannabis oil.

Whose opinion is more valid - the estranged father or the mother + sister + police?

And, without her father's intervation:

"Rumer came out of ICU yesterday and is much better! She is sitting up and bossing everybody around again, huge improvement! We are on the right road to recovery," her mum posted on Tuesday.
Ms Maujean shared more good news Thursday morning: "A very hungry little girl woke up this morning wanting very specifically - sausages, bacon and mash potato - for breakfast! Nothing wrong with her appetite."

This is not a 40-something smoking dope to relieve their MS. This was an estranged father injecting a 2 year old with cannabis oil.

Don't believe so readily what you read in the papers. They only tell stories to sell advertising.

Reply 15

Spetznaaz

Original post by Simes

The medicinal benefits of cannabis for terminal cancer patients have been widely documented.

I don't think anyone is claiming he has cured her - It's about improving the quality of life.

Cannabis can also help with the treatment of cancer - one example is it's amazing ability to tackle nausea and lack of appetite, two serious side effects of chemo. A number of the drugs given to combat these side effects are in fact highly dangerous themselves.

There is no question that cannabis would have given the little girl a better quality of life and if you don't believe me, just go perform a journal search "cannabis medicinal".

Edit - just read your above post. Hmm, he was injecting her? wtf..

And so the little girl isn't terminal then? Seem there is more to it as you said.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 16

Chlorophile

Original post by Onde

Isn't there a difference between drugs and medicine?

The father may have been acting in his daughter's best interest, but I am wary of individuals who believe that cannabis had a "miraculous" improvement in someone with cancer. Decisions should ideally be left to those who are knowledgable about such matters.

Given that there is a huge amount of support for legalising these drugs from the medical and scientific community, he's probably not all wrong.

Reply 17

Wade-

Original post by Spetznaaz

Laws are there for a reason, you can't pick and choose when to follow them. It's like saying that if you're poor then it's acceptable to steal things to give your kids a better life. How can you call the banning of certain drugs draconian? That's such an overused word, usually by people who don't know what it actually means. I accept it would be hard to watch your child suffering but laws are in place for a reason and there isn't a clause to say you can break it if it's hard for you to follow

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Reply 18

seaholme

"Her only source of pain relief"... there is so much pain relief far more potent than just Cannabis, that can be and is given legally to kids or any person with pain.

It's hard to judge this case because we don't really know enough, but given that morphine (which IS heroin, for the person above) and even ketamine are in the legal arsenal for very significant pain, along with a whole host of neuropathic/anti-inflammatory pain killers, it seems to me that Cannabis is hardly the only option. It's not correct to paint that picture. Whether it had a 'miraculous' impact - that would indeed be miraculous, but who are we to say if it did or didn't. There is evidence it helps with pain, but it's not a very powerful painkiller - just a relatively side-effect free painkiller, apart from obviously having an impact on mood.

Reply 19

Chlorophile

Original post by Onde

Yes, that's not really the issue so much. I think drugs should be decriminalised. But I do think it is unwise to permit someone with no medical knowledge to administer a dosage of a drug of unknown strength to his 2 year child. Sure, she has cancer. But doctors are better placed for such decisions.

Desperate people do desperate things. Is what he did sensible? I'm not sure. Is it understandable? Definitely. The sources linked above don't exactly have a reputation for reliability so I don't want to judge too much but this doesn't seem like an offence somebody should be imprisoned for.